If
oil prices surge anew and E-VAT TRO is lifted:
Series of Protests at Hand, Says Labor Spokesperson
The spokesperson of
the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement) said that the various
cause-oriented groups are ready to stage a series of protest actions if
oil prices increase again and the temporary restraining order on the
Expanded Value-Added Tax (EVAT) law is lifted at the same time. The
protests would include a nationwide transport strike, KMU spokesperson
Prestoline Suyat told Bulatlat in an interview.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN
REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
The
spokesperson of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement) said
that the various cause-oriented groups are ready to stage a series of
protest actions should oil prices increase again and the temporary
restraining order on the Expanded Value-Added Tax (E-VAT) law is lifted at
the same time. The protests would include a nationwide transport strike,
KMU spokesperson Prestoline Suyat told Bulatlat in an interview.
World oil
prices had reached historic highs in the past few weeks, with Dubai crude
oil soaring to $55 per barrel and New York crude oil jumping to $67 per
barrel. This, despite the recent revelation of Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al Sabah,
Kuwait’s oil minister, that global oil supply has exceeded demand over the
last two years.
Meanwhile,
oil companies in the Philippines had taken advantage of the recent surge
in world oil prices to increase pump prices by as much as P0.50 ($0.0089
based on a $1:P55.94 exchange rate) per liter. This latest oil price hike
was the 14th this year, making for a total P7.50 ($0.1341) per
liter increase in diesel prices and P4.50 ($0.081) per liter increase in
gasoline prices.
|
RELIVING
THE CRY: Activist leaders raise fists after a symbolic tearing of
cedulas in an anti-Arroyo rally also commemorating the historic Cry of
Pugadlawin, Aug. 23
Photo by Alexander Martin Remollino |
Energy
conservation
The
Macapagal-Arroyo government has called for energy conservation measures as
a way of coping with what Malacañang describes as a “looming energy
crisis.”
In an Aug.
21 statement, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye came up with suggestions on
energy conservation, among them the following:
replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescent bulbs, setting
air-conditioning thermostats to the lowest comfortable level, unplugging
electrical appliances when not in use, proper maintenance of vehicles, and
avoidance of elevator usage. He even warned that in a worst-case scenario,
the government could be forced to resort to oil rationing, similar to what
was done in the 1980s, when the Iran-Iraq war triggered a world oil
crisis.
Suyat described Malacañang’s energy-saving prescriptions as “ridiculous.”
According to him, it is the government that is to be blamed for what it
describes as an energy crisis. “Because we have no basic industries,”
Suyat said, “we are dependent on the world market.”
The supposed energy crisis was also among the issues raised in a
multi-sectoral rally at Welcome Rotunda, the boundary between Quezon City
and Manila, last Aug. 23. Various groups under the banner of the Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) commemorated the 109th
anniversary of the Cry of Pugadlawin, an event which signaled the start of
the 1896 Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonialism, by shredding
LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) purchase receipts and other symbols of what
Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes, Jr. described as “economic burdens
imposed by the Arroyo administration.”
“We have nothing left to save and yet we are being called upon to be more
frugal,” Emmi de Jesus, secretary-general of the women’s alliance Gabriela
said during the rally.
In a statement distributed during the rally, Eleanor de Guzman, Anakbayan
secretary-general, called for the suspension of Republic Act 8479 or the
Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998 and the imposition of a
moratorium on oil price hikes.
E-VAT
Also raised during the rally was the issue of the E-VAT law.
“The E-VAT law is concededly a bitter pill to take but this is what is
necessary to enhance our fiscal stability, to equitably spread out the tax
burden, shore up business confidence and broaden social reforms,” Bunye
had said in his Aug. 21 statement.
Speaking at the Aug. 23 rally, Reyes said: “Our bondage today is partly
symbolized by the many taxes and debts we are being forced to pay by the
Arroyo administration.”
Asked to comment on Bunye’s statement on the E-VAT, Suyat said: “The E-VAT
law should be scrapped. It will adversely affect basic commodities and the
revenues to be raised from its implementation will not benefit the
country, they will just go to debt servicing and corruption.”
Presently
covered by the VAT are: food products (processed meat, canned fish,
coconut and vegetable oil, bakery products, noodles, milk, dairy products,
coffee, sugar); clothing, footwear, tannery and leather products; drugs
and medicine, furniture, pulp and paper; glass and glass products; cement,
steel, iron, wood and most construction materials; electrical lamps and
equipment; machinery and equipment both for manufacturing and agriculture;
wholesale trade and retail trade; pawnshops; restaurants, cafes and other
eating and drinking places; employment and recruitment agencies; motion
picture production; hotels and motels; and telecommunications (including
landline, post-paid and pre-paid mobile phone services).
In his Aug.
21 statement, Bunye had said that the government would implement measures
to alleviate the impact of the E-VAT if the Supreme Court’s TRO be lifted.
Among these, said Bunye, would be the reduction of import tariff on
petroleum products, the elimination of excise tax on oil products, the
deployment of rolling “cold chain facilities” to make agricultural
products like fresh meat and vegetables accessible to consumers at cheaper
prices and the activation of monitoring units to guard against price
gouging.
Any measure
that would help, Suyat said, would be welcome, “but the government must
also take into consideration the demands of the people and the mass
organizations.” Bulatlat
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